Post-mix beverage dispensing valves typically provide for the mixing of beverage syrup with a diluent such as carbonated or plain (non-carbonated) water. Most such valves dispense only one brand or flavor at a time, although beverage dispensing valves that are capable of dispensing a plurality of beverages out of a single dispensing nozzle are known in the art. These multiple flavor dispensing valves increase the number of brands of drinks that can be dispensed from a dispenser of a given size or footprint. However, conventional multiple flavor post-mix beverage dispensing valves generally do not perform as well as individual dedicated valves, particularly with respect to dispensing a drink that has a high level of carbonation. Improvements in controlling dispensed drink carbonation levels in post-mix multiple flavor valves are always desirable.
Certain drinks can be modified by the addition of a staple flavoring such as cherry, vanilla, lemon or lime. These flavorings can be added to the basic syrup formulation as provided to a user, but that undesirably adds significantly to the number of beverage dispensing valves required due to the need to dispense an increased number of differently flavored drinks, especially where the valves are of the dedicated single flavor variety. Naturally, multiple flavor valves can be used, but such conventional valves do not necessarily fully alleviate the problem, particularly when further variations of the basic drink flavor are required, such as caffeinated or non-caffeinated.
Accordingly, it is known to have separate valves that provide for the dispensing of only a pure flavoring that can be added, in a separate operation, to the main drink after it has been dispensed into a cup or into the empty cup just before dispensing the main drink. In this way, the flavoring can be selectively added, or not, to any of the drinks dispensed by the particular beverage dispensing machine, thereby providing more drink varieties from a single machine. However, a problem with existing flavor additive machines is their complexity, particularly from a user interface point of view. It is important that use of such machines be clear and intuitive, especially since most such machines are used by the public on a self-service basis, as opposed to being used exclusively by trained restaurant personnel. It is also desirable to have a post-mix beverage dispenser that can provide for the greatest number of drink and additive flavor combinations in a given size or footprint machine.